The Train Chugs, at last

It was 1995... or was it earlier? The rail link between Mangalore and Bangalore was removed... Why? It was a meter gauge then and was supposed to be converted into broad gauge in 4-5 years...

2007, 12 years later... The rail link is complete and the 1st passenger train chugs its way from Mangalore into Bangalore for the 1st time after 12 years...The dream of every Mangalorean came true... Having a rail link to almost all parts of India (including Jammu Tavi), this place was not connected to its own state capital...

These 12 years have been a boon for the bus lobby which had been minting money from all corners which left the wary passenger with not much choice... Either pay 300 odd bucks and travel to Bangalore over the night, or cough up 3k for a flight ticket, not to forget the cost of journey between airports and final destination...

All said and done, this looks like a happy ending... as the saying goes.. and I quote reminding me of Shaks' latest post: Bhagwan ke yahaan der hai, andher nahi...

But is the picture what it looks like??

Ok... for the uninitiated, the train travels through what is called the "Kashmir of the South" Shiradi Ghat section, with about 57 tunnels within a gap of 40 odd KMs with some of the steepest gradient for a broad gauge in India, about 50 meters for every Kilometer for 30 KMs (not sure, remember reading somewhere)

Now, the entire journey is timed during the night and there is very minimal chance of watching this 55 KM section of splendid scenery. Another catch is of the journey itself.
There are 2 routes of getting into Bangalore.
One via the Hassan - Arsikere - Tumkur - Bangalore route about 350 kms
The other Hassan - Mysore - Bangalore - 410 kms

The trains take the latter route, which increases travel time by atleast 1.5 hrs and a distance increase of 60 kilometers. Thus, it artificially escalates the price of the journey, and thus could result in reduced demand. At the end of the day, the railway authorities can easily get away by washing their hands and claiming "financially not viable"

The price for a 3 tier AC is Rs. 611 in comparison with a Volvo charge of Rs. 400 one way

It doesnt stop there. The other aspect is of the illegal mining lobby which transports manganese ore and other minerals from Bellary and other areas into Mangalore port to be shipped to China. This being very profitable, goods are being transported by train. There are already 9 goods train running on this line ranging from petroleum, gas, minerals and other materials. They run via the Arsikere route and are given preference over passenger trains...

Is the railway, being a governmental agency, try to increase revenue by the way of compromising consideration for the passenger (here, customer) and that too making him pay for the route that is not favorable?

Is it a dream that will be short lived and that the railways could buckle under the lobby pressure?

Only time can tell...

Some of the snaps of the rail link: earlier it was a haven for all trekkers trekking 20 odd kms on these unlaid tracks

Taare Zameen Par

Can't get enough of the songs... Seriously refreshing and melodious...(from the usual jhatkas and remix songs)

Waiting for the movie to be out... Need to see if the perfectionist remains to be one when it comes to direction and handling (special) kids...

General Knowledge

Hey again,
Thought I'd share a concept of why 1 is one and 2 is two and so on... Not sure of the source, but got it as a forward through mail.

It's all about angles !

It's the number of angles. If one writes the numbers down (see below) on a piece of paper in their older forms, one quickly sees why. I have marked the angles with "o"s.

No 1 has one angle.
No 2 has two angles.
No 3 has three angles.
etc.

Holy Smokes!!!

San Diego Fire: A picture from the skies above (Satellite images)
Dated: 22/Oct/2007

Can just imagine the plight of people at Ground Zero!!! Here are a few snapshots... This must be what hell is like...without the firefighters of course...

Snapshots from Hell

Just wondering how would the satellite images be over Mumbai, Delhi and a few other cities during Diwali!!!

Happy Diwali in advance

Harassment

Just when I thought that respect for women in India was at an all time high given the number of women in top positions in the corporate world, NGOs, the President of India and so on, the common Indian man does not have seem to recognized it.

My personal experience a couple of days back replaced my belief and saw that man has not changed although women may be doing well in the country.

A married man, about 35-40 years of age, was allegedly harassing a young lady sitting in front of him. The trip from Mangalore to Bangalore was not pleasant in the first place after a hectic weekend and that too this act from a man who was married added to my mental agony. To top it all, this happened in a Volvo bus in which supposedly only ‘decent’ people travel…

After a fierce 15 minutes of verbal duel, the person received a well deserved slap from on of the co-passenger. This continued and after 45 minutes of begging and pleading, saying his career was at stake, his wife would leave him and stuff. Later, he was handed over to the police at a town near Bangalore.

God knows what has happened of him as I write this, but he should have thought of his career, his wife all that when he was committing the act. It was a good move by the young lady that she spoke out, else there would be many who would just avoid complaining and the guy would give a slip, only to continue making it a habit.

Illusion

Leaning Tower Illusion

The two images of the Leaning Tower of Pisa are identical, yet one has the impression that the tower on the right leans more, as if photographed from a different angle. The reason for this is because the visual system treats the two images as if part of a single scene. Normally, if two adjacent towers rise at the same angle, their image outlines converge as they recede from view due to perspective, and this is taken into account by the visual system. So when confronted with two towers whose corresponding outlines are parallel, the visual system assumes they must be diverging as they rise from view, and this is what we see.

Click here for more illusions

Power

The evergreen problem of India - Power. Here, I mean Electricity.

India currently has an installed capacity of 1,27,000 MW and already we are facing electricity shortages and blackouts. There is an estimate of 11 to 18 percent shortage in the near future. While China adds appox. 70,000 MW every year, India has added hardly 22,000 MW in the last 5 yrs. Let us not get into the reasons, mainly being political.

A recent article on Deccan Herald talked of using small measures to save electricity from being spent. This spoke of saving electricity rather than generating new power. The concept called 'negawatts' uses the theory of efficient management of energy. From switching to sunlight during the day to turning off TVs when on standby, such was the concept.

Of course, I believe in small droplets making an ocean, but looking at the current level of growth both in the economy, with more and more industries being setup, and the never ending population spurt, the ocean needs a downpour and not drops. Electricity needs to be produced.

But how? Thermal Power?
A recent debate on the Nagarjuna thermal plant near Udupi shows that the ash from the burnt coal pollutes the aquatic life in the sea (being the waste disposed into the sea) or the ground water of the surrounding areas get polluted. If they get released into the air, the Amazon of India, the Western Ghats would be affected. Not to forget, the western ghats have the rarest species of flora and fauna not found anywhere else in the country.

Are we ready to compromise mother nature in the name of development? Or due we take a cue from Nature herself, just like a small place like Malavalli Biomass Power plant has done?

Yes, I believe that nature has answers to all our questions. Malavalli Biomass plant is located in rural Karnataka in Mandya district. This plant locally accumulates crop residues which are otherwise burnt by the farmers which obviously add to environment pollution. Malavalli itself is reported to have a capacity to generate 5000 MW of power. Come to think of it, India produces approximately 100 million tonnes of crop and mill residues which can be used by biomass plants!!

So if we can think out of the box, with a little bit of will and partnership from both from the government and private entities we can end up in a much brighter scenario faster than expected. What can we being laymen do? We can help by efficient usage and management of power and there will hardly be a necessity to cry for power again.

For more details you can check the following references:

• Beware ghosts that gobble up power at homes - Deccan Herald - Jun 25, 2007
• Blacked out - India Today - Issue Jun 25, 2007
• http://www.tve.org/ho/doc.cfm?aid=1676&lang=English

Something different

Hi again all of u.... we meet again, after a long break...

I had nothing special to write in a long time, no personal memorable incidents, no excitement, nothing... seemed as though life had come to a standstill... Damn, this corporate world...

People go on rampage just like untamed Bulls (no hard feelings) with me not posting anymore... Hence I've decided to do something different this time on...

I will try capturing some stuff / news on the net and use them here (for everyones' perusal), will try and give personal, probably unbiased opinions and I hope to get suggestions, good or better ;) ... either will work for me and help me make this blog a better place...

Until then
Ciao

Wish life was a tape

The last week has been really nostalgic, has been a mixed bag of feelings. Its not just me, but I am sure that all my batchmates feel the same.

The day we were waiting for, for which countdown was set since placements, is here. Yes, the two years of MBA at TAPMI is coming to an end. These 2 years may have taught us all the things that perhaps any book could teach. But the experience gained, the fun time that was enjoyed, the friends made may never happen again in life.

A mix in the feeling of elation and sorrow fills me up. I cannot imagine my roomie or one of my neighbors not waking me up in the morning reminding me of class within the next ten mins!!! Nor can I hear Harsha's cacophonic voice in the...uh um...BATH... God knows from where will I source all the movies and even if I do, will I be able to start watching them at 1:30 in the night?? Where will I go at midnight if I feel hungry?

All the small things that made my day (and night) will be gone in a flash. At this point in time, I wish life was a tape... You can watch and do things all over again. Fast forward moments that you didn't like, esp. classes, go slow on some and pause some moments that you cherish forever....

But alas, life goes on and there's no turning back... We take it in our stride and continue to surge ahead with renewed energy and motivation thinking that tomorrow would be a better day...

Hypotheses turns out Correct !!!

A thought just occurred to my mind.

Why am I writing this blog?
Is it for others to see or is it for myself? My way of expressing my feelings about something. That, I can do otherwise as well.

Am I writing this to kill time or am I wasting my time writing this?

Just as one of my earlier posts talks about Laziness and Me, the hypotheses does seem to be right and is working well. I have seven classes everyday throughout the week except today, and here I am back at churning out new posts.

5 Whys - Do they really work??

Ok.... this is Management Control Systems session.

An assignment is due on the 5 - Why Analysis. This mode of analysis is supposed to dig out the 'Root Cause' for an identified problem. it is used most of the times in operations and was first used in Toyota...

Enough of details, I was very keen on testing this out. My friend Shaks and I had to complete the assignment and had the 'huge' responsibility of completing it on time.

So the problem we identified was what just happened to me earlier during the day:
"I reached late to class" - This was taken up as the problem identified.

Why did I reach late to class?
Because I got up late in the morning

Why did I get up late in the morning?
Because I slept late the previous night

Why did I sleep late the previous night?
Because I was in a party which went on late into the early morning

Why did you party late?
Because I topped the batch in a subject which was difficult

Why did you top the batch?
Because I had internalized all the learnings and had become an expert in the teachings and concepts of the subject

Thus, the root cause was analyzed. I should not have learnt the subject well. The problem would never have occurred in the first place. However, what good is it if I don't learn from past mistakes?

I will see to it that I never top again in class. It simply leads to other problems.

...It really works...

Click here for more details on 5 Whys

Early to bed early to rise

Early to bed, early to rise

Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise

Why cant b-schools take a cue from nursery schools?

These so called ‘Educational Institutes’ are breeding grounds for the mentally ‘strong’ people who can handle the stress or distress, joy or pain, come what may. They are most of the times logical and rational in all aspects of life and never let emotions or feelings affect their decisions…

Earlier, staying up awake into the wee hours of the night in India and welcoming the Australian morning was the case only during cricket matches held there. Now it is a daily affair.

A paradoxical situation from when the British used to pride themselves in saying “The sun never sets on the British Empire”. This has been globalized to, “The sun never sets for the MBA student”. He has to keep a track of daily changes in the market situation, stock market the world over, mergers and acquisitions, new products, research and so on.

Assignments, presentations, projects etc… all this for the sake of competing in the never ending rat race… I ask… why be a rat at all??

At the end of the day, only one aspect of the above prose is offered in MBA…wealth.

Health is gone for a toss and we become wise only when we grow old that too, given the health situation, if we get an opportunity to grow old.

The age of ZERO!!!

This might sound crazy... but the following narration is a true story based on personal experience ;)

The setting:
Dionysia 2007 - The annual Drama festival at TAPMI
My Role:
I play a father {(DAD) and not the church priest} whose daughter is visited by this guy asking for her hand.
The Play:
The boy talks to the girl and tries to convince her for marriage, but is displeased with her reaction... the girl is shy, apprehensive of the marriage (typical Indian style) and so on... The discussion between the guy and girl is over. I enter the scene once the girl leaves the room. The guy expresses his dissatisfaction over the girl's behaviour...

The Real Mixup:
Now its my turn to convince the guy that the girl is good and has good behaviour and the usual stuff (although not personally experienced, think thats how it works)

Guy: Uncle, I think she does not seem ready for marriage
Me: (original dialogue) Son, I know Ritu (the girl) well because I have groomed her, and she is just shy now... she's a perfect match for you...

But guess what slipped out of my mouth???
Me: Son, I know Ritu from the age of... {at this point of time I know I'm trapped, if I don't know my daughter since her birth, then I'm not her father by blood at all} ...ZERO... {you can't blame me... atleast the audience had a hearty laughter in a melodrama kind of setting}

All said and done, a few things I realized:

I realized the speed of mind is waaaayyyy tooo ahead of any computer....
In a micro second I realized that my dialogue was wrong, at the same time I thought that she's my daughter who I know from birth, plus the sentence had to be grammatically correct... so there it came......

"I know Ritu from the age of Zero!!!"

Laziness

I had a lot of 'TO DO' things in mind.

I Wanted to write blogs...embed photos...upload videos...etc. just like I used to do during my End Term Exam days

All of the above has come to a standstill...reason...no classes, hardly any assignments (even if there are, am procrastinating....as usual).

A few trips that my friends and I went to: St. Mary's Island, A round trip of Udupi Dist. etc. are a few victims of my laziness not to find a place in this blog.

The hypothesis - to get some work done, you need some extra work (read assignments and end terms)

My Photo Album:

Last Updated - GOK (God Only Knows) {ref: Prof. Lionel Aranha}

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/padnayak

Below is a small movie I collatted by way of pictures, just to store it as a lasting piece of memory of the days at TAPMI. Uploaded this video after countless requests by Shaks; again laziness had gotten the better of me!!! But here I am, uploading the video as well as back to writing a blog...

Hope this stays on (touch wood)